Enlarging the Union, consolidating democracy – which role for the Weimar Triangle?

Geopolitics and insecurity have bolstered the dynamic of EU enlargement in the past few years and have paved the way for renewed cooperation in the Weimar Triangle. While political leaders are committed to coupling geostrategic enlargement with an accession policy aimed at consolidating democracy and the rule of law, there are still numerous question marks over how this can be achieved in concrete terms. How can the EU better prioritise political transformation in its debates on enlargement reform? Has the EU learned its lessons and, if so, what are they? To what extent does the promotion of democracy and the rule of law need to take into account country-specific and regional contexts? How can the external and internal dimension of safeguarding democracy and the rule of law, both in current and future member states, be thought of as two sides of the same coin? Lastly, what can the Weimar Triangle and its partners do to support political reforms in affirming both security and democracy in Europe?  

This publication follows up on the roundtable “Enlarging the Union, consolidating democracy: which priorities, which tools?” that brought together key analysts and policymakers from Germany, France, Poland, Austria, the EU institutions and EU accession countries at Genshagen Castle on 23 and 24 May 2024. The contributions assembled in this volume reflect the views of particular participants. They offer a set of tentative answers to the question of how to bolster democracy and the rule of law both in accession countries and within the Union and explore the role that the Weimar Triangle could play in this context.